


The Little Grave

by naberiie



Category: Hollow Knight (Video Game)
Genre: Character Study, Dirtmouth, Dream No More Ending (Hollow Knight), Gen, Grief/Mourning, Iselda (Hollow Knight) - Mentioned, The Last Stag (Hollow Knight) - Mentioned
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-07
Updated: 2019-09-07
Packaged: 2020-10-12 02:48:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 944
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20556950
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/naberiie/pseuds/naberiie
Summary: “Are you looking for your home, little one? Is that what you seek?”Silence, but the way the pale mask the color of ash turned up to look at him… no. No home, no family.“Ah,” Elderbug said, trying to sound more cheerful than he felt. “It must be a very important quest, then.”They nodded.





	The Little Grave

The little knight never talked, never ate, never slept.

Elderbug – everyone called him that, and if it made them happy to call him that, then he was happy, too – watched as the little knight tramped this way and that, down to the ruins, up to the cliff where they say crystals grow in every step, led Bretta and Sly back up to Dirtmouth. The little knight, with their ghostly mask and nail just about the size of their body, always stopped to listen to Elderbug, and that made Elderbug very happy indeed.

He’d missed having other bugs to talk to.

Had the little one sensed this? They must have. Ever since the little knight had arrived, more and more bugs were arriving, setting up shop and home on the once-empty streets. It had just been Elderbug when the knight arrived, but now Iselda greeted him every morning and evening. Bretta sat on the bench and gushed about her newest infatuation. Sly tried to sell him charms he did not want or need. The Stag Station opened, and Elderbug heard the deep grumblings of the ancient Stag that ran the tunnels as they carried the knight to places long forgotten.

The little knight was taking care of Dirtmouth – unintentionally, Elderbug reasoned with himself – but they were alone. No one seemed to be waiting for them. No one took care of them. They sometimes dozed on the cold wrought iron bench, but those empty hollow eyes were fixated on something Elderbug could not comprehend. Like everyone, their eyes turned towards the ruins, towards whatever treasures lurked among the dangers, the darkness below their little town.

He wasn’t quite sure he wanted to understand the little knight’s quest.

Once, he’d tried asking, though he knew he would not receive an answer. “Are you looking for your home, little one? Is that what you seek?”

Silence, but the way the pale mask the color of ash turned up to look at him… no. No home, no family.

“Ah,” Elderbug said, trying to sound more cheerful than he felt. “It must be a very important quest, then.”

They nodded.

They were so small, but they carried themselves like a warrior bug. He saw the way the nail grew sharper, larger, more fortified. He noticed how many charms they carried now. Cornifer even said he’d seen the knight in the ancient city, in the places beneath and beyond. Places that held terrors and wonders that Elderbug couldn’t even dream up.

They were so small.

They’d sit on the bench for a moment, furiously scribbling a maze of caverns and corridors on their little map, and then they’d be off, down the well or to the Stag Station, off on their very important quest. Elderbug listened for their little steps, worrying as the hours stretched into days until they finally reemerged, and while Elderbug’s heart lifted with relief, something about the knight’s uncanny stamina, their emotionless mask… it churned away at something in his guts.

Iselda called him a little ghost, but they weren’t. Not to Elderbug.

They were a friend.

They never talked, never ate, never slept.

But they listened to him.

They said _hello_ in their perpetually silent way, and Elderbug sometimes liked to think they came up to Dirtmouth to see him.

They even brought him a flower, a beautiful pale thing that glowed in the dimness of their humble home. Dreams weren’t so bad after all, and Elderbug began to dream of a garden, of light.

"Why not rest at the bench here for a while? We can enjoy the flower together before you head off again."

They nodded, and sat next to him on the bench, and Elderbug did not mind that they were always a little cold.

Things changed, the sounds and smells from the old well putrefied. Rotten moans and shrieks drifted up on the wind, and Elderbug shivered but the knight never once wavered, never once looked dismayed, never hesitated to return to that infected ruined place. They merely continued on their very important quest.

Things changed.

The day the world shifted under their feet, it was not the little knight who came up to say hello.

A strange bug, carrying a needle and draped in red, brought a shattered mask back to Dirthmouth.

And he knew, he knew, he knew.

His heart broke, right down the center.

Elderbug brought her to the graveyard.

The air from the well was cleaner now. The horrible sounds had diminished. And Elderbug knew that it had happened because of the little knight’s very important quest.

But their mask was shattered, split down the middle, so the taste of peace never came for Elderbug.

The bug in red placed the mask where he directed her to put the pieces. Dirtmouth had no gravedigger, so they built a cairn for the little knight. They made sure to arrange the pieces of the mask so that it looked somewhat whole. Somewhat peaceful.

Elderbug made a little alcove for the delicate flower. It glowed, like a little piece of soul in the darkness of their town.

He had other bugs to talk to now, and he didn’t know what the little knight’s quest had been, and he so desperately wished he had asked. He wished he had said _thank you. You did so well. _Now… it was too late.

Now, when he visited the graveyard, he had two friends to tell _hello, I miss you_.

_Whatever you did down there, you did so well. I am so proud of you._

_I am very grateful to have been your friend._

_Rest easy, little one._

They can still enjoy the flower together.

**Author's Note:**

> I love Elderbug, and wanted to pay homage to their very sweet and ultimately very sad friendship with the little knight. Sorry my first fic for the HK fandom is such a bummer ;-; I'm just always swimming in emotions, won't you join me down here?
> 
> [tumblr](https://naberiie.tumblr.com/), [twitter](https://twitter.com/naberiie)


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